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Cybrexa Therapeutics Announces Arthur DeCillis, MD as Acting Chief Medical Officer to Support CBX-12’s Entry into the Clinic
Cybrexa Therapeutics Announces Arthur DeCillis, MD as Acting Chief Medical Officer to Support CBX-12’s Entry into the Clinic
New Haven, Conn., March 31, 2020 – Cybrexa Therapeutics, an oncology-focused biotechnology company developing a new class of therapeutics through its alphalex™ tumor targeting platform, today announced that Arthur DeCillis, MD, has joined the company as Acting CMO. Dr. DeCillis will be responsible for the development of the first-in-human study of Cybrexa’s lead program, CBX-12 (alphalexTM-exatecan), and early and late stage clinical programs for the Cybrexa portfolio. Dr. DeCillis brings over 20 years of experience in pharma and biotech, having worked on multiple oncology products with over $1billion in sales.
Dr. DeCillis currently serves as the president of DeCillis Consulting LLC, a company that provides oncology strategic, medical, and operational consulting services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Prior to forming his own consulting practice, Dr. DeCillis was the Chief Medical Officer for Eleven Biotherapeutics (now known as Sesen Bio Inc.), a late-stage clinical company developing next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapies. Previously, Dr. DeCillis was the Vice President of Clinical Research and then Vice President of Medical Affairs at Exelixis, Inc., an oncology-focused biotechnology company. He also previously served as Executive Director of Oncology Development at Novartis and Group Director of Bristol-Myers Squibb. Arthur has been involved in the development of several commercialized oncology drugs including SPRYCEL® (dasatinib), AFINITOR® (everolimus), FARYDAK® (panobinostat), and CABOMETYX® (cabozantinib). Dr. DeCillis holds an M.D. from University of Rochester and completed an internal medicine residency at Medical College of Virginia followed by a fellowship at University of Pittsburgh.
Per Hellsund, President and CEO of Cybrexa said, “We are privileged to have Art join the Cybrexa team. His extensive expertise will help to optimize Cybrexa’s growing portfolio, particularly as we prepare for CBX-12 to enter the clinic in advanced solid tumors early next year. We anticipate quickly growing into a company with multiple clinical-stage programs, and Art’s leadership will be a critical part of this transition.”
About the alphalex™ Technology Platform
The Cybrexa alphalex™ technology platform – which consists of a pHLIP® peptide, linker, and small molecule anti-cancer agent (payload) – enables antigen-independent targeting of tumors and intracellular delivery of highly potent anticancer therapies, creating therapeutics that can revolutionize the standard of care. pHLIP® peptides are a family of pH-Low Insertion Peptides that target acidic cell surfaces. pHLIP® was developed at Yale University and the University of Rhode Island, and is exclusively licensed to pHLIP, Inc. alphalex™ represents the disruptive next generation in tumor targeting. View a video of the mechanism of action of the technology at www.cybrexa.com.
About Cybrexa
Cybrexa is a privately-held biotechnology company dedicated to developing next-generation tumor-targeted cancer therapies using its alphalex™ platform. The Company’s lead candidate, CBX-12, an alphalex™-exatecan conjugate, is expected to enter Phase I in 2021 in advanced solid tumors. Cybrexa also has other preclinical toxin conjugate programs as well as synthetic lethality programs. Cybrexa was founded by physician-scientists and has an experienced management team that has built numerous successful life sciences companies. For more information about Cybrexa, please visit www.cybrexa.com.
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Cybrexa Therapeutics Announces CBX-12 as Lead Development Program
New Haven, Conn., January 9, 2020 – Cybrexa Therapeutics, an oncology-focused biotechnology company developing a new class of therapeutics through its alphalex™ tumor targeting platform, today announced CBX-12 (alphalexTM-exatecan) as the new lead development program. CBX-12 is an alphalexTM conjugate that includes the highly potent topoisomerase I inhibitor exatecan.
CBX-12 has demonstrated strong efficacy and a solid safety profile in preclinical studies. CBX-12 leverages the same class of payload used in the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) ENHERTU® (fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki), which was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under Accelerated Approval in unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. Like ENHERTU®, CBX-12 delivers a highly potent topoisomerase I payload, but CBX-12 targets tumors without the need for a specific antigen and therefore has the potential to address a much broader patient population. CBX-12 has potential synergy with PD-1 inhibitors and other immuno-oncology drugs. Cybrexa plans to publish preclinical data for CBX-12 in the first half of 2020 and to advance the program into the clinic in 2021.
Per Hellsund, President and CEO of Cybrexa said, “CBX-12 has tremendous potential to change the treatment paradigm in multiple solid tumors, which remain hard to treat. We are committed to moving this program rapidly into the clinic, and ultimately benefit as many patients as possible. We look forward to reporting on CBX-12’s progress at upcoming high-profile medical conferences in 2020.”
Chief Scientific Officer Vishwas Paralkar, PhD, added, “The CBX-12 program has shown outstanding results in preclinical studies and showcases the potential and opportunity for the alphalexTM platform. We continue to make good progress with our other programs in the preclinical pipeline and look forward to advancing those candidates as we work to provide treatments to as many patients as possible.”
About the alphalex™ Technology Platform
The Cybrexa alphalex™ technology platform – which consists of a pHLIP® peptide, linker, and small molecule anti-cancer agent (payload) – enables antigen-independent targeting of tumors and intracellular delivery of highly potent anticancer therapies, creating therapeutics that can revolutionize the standard of care. pHLIP® peptides are a family of pH-Low Insertion Peptides that target acidic cell surfaces. pHLIP® was developed at Yale University and the University of Rhode Island, and is exclusively licensed to pHLIP, Inc. alphalex™ represents the disruptive next generation in tumor targeting. View a video of the mechanism of action of the technology at www.cybrexa.com.
About Cybrexa
Cybrexa is a privately-held biotechnology company dedicated to developing next-generation tumor-targeted cancer therapies using its alphalex™ platform. The Company’s lead candidate, CBX-12, an alphalex™-exatecan conjugate, is expected to enter Phase I in 2021 in advanced solid tumors. Cybrexa also has other preclinical toxin conjugate programs as well as synthetic lethality programs. Cybrexa was founded by physician-scientists and has an experienced management team that has built numerous successful life sciences companies. For more information about Cybrexa, please visit www.cybrexa.com.
Media Contact
Amanda Johnson
Phone: 202.930.4762 x407
Email: [email protected]
Cybrexa Therapeutics Announces Expansion of its Anticancer Pipeline
New Haven, Conn., December 9, 2019 – Cybrexa Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing a new class of cancer therapeutics through its alphalex™ tumor targeting platform, today announced that the Company is expanding the application of its proprietary alphalex™ platform to include toxin conjugates and additional next generation synthetic lethality targets.
Two of Cybrexa’s new preclinical pipeline programs include CBX-12 (alphalexTM-exatecan) and CBX-13 (alphalexTM-DM4). Both exatecan and DM4 are highly toxic to cells and require targeted delivery to be used as cancer therapies, making them prime opportunities for the alphalexTM platform. Both programs are expected to have efficacy across a variety of solid tumors. Preclinical work is ongoing, with publication of initial data expected by mid-2020.
Per Hellsund, President and CEO of Cybrexa said, “We are excited to broaden the application of our alphalexTM technology platform to expand our pipeline. We have made rapid progress with our new programs and believe these agents could be transformative both in patient populations where few treatment options or remaining unmet needs exist. We look forward to continuing to explore new applications of alphalexTM to bring benefits to patients.”
Scientific Co-founder Peter Glazer, MD, PhD, commented on CBX-12, “Our early preclinical data shows very impressive efficacy in mouse tumor models with essentially no toxicity, quite unlike the situation that you see with the free molecule [exatecan]. We believe that this will provide the needed therapeutic index to apply the Cybrexa technology with exatecan to a variety of human solid tumors.”
About the alphalex™ Technology Platform
The Cybrexa alphalex™ technology platform – which consists of a pHLIP® peptide, linker, and small molecule anti-cancer agent – allows for antigen-independent, intracellular delivery of small molecule anti-cancer agents. pHLIP® peptides are a family of pH-Low Insertion Peptides that target acidic cell surfaces. pHLIP® was developed at Yale University and the University of Rhode Island, and is exclusively licensed to pHLIP, Inc. View a video of the mechanism of action of the technology at www.cybrexa.com.
About Cybrexa
Cybrexa is a privately-held biotechnology company dedicated to developing an entirely new class of tumor-targeted cancer therapies using its alphalex™ platform. The Company’s lead candidate, CBX-11, an alphalex™-PARP inhibitor conjugate, is expected to enter Phase I in 2020 in advanced solid tumors. Cybrexa also has preclinical programs focused on next-generation synthetic lethality targets and toxin conjugates. Cybrexa was founded by physician-scientists and has an experienced management team that has built numerous successful life sciences companies and raised hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital. For more information about Cybrexa, please visit www.cybrexa.com.
Media Contact
Amanda Johnson
Phone: 202.930.4762 x407
Email: [email protected]